Lesbian Judge Won’t Wed Couples in Texas

In the midst of Maryland becoming the 8th state to pass gay marriage we have a new hero & role model in Dallas Texas. Openly Gay Dallas County Judge Tonya Parker has taken a strong stand by refusing to conduct marriage ceremonies for straight couples until same-gender couples can also wed. Explaining her decision at a monthly meeting for the Stonewall Democrats of Dallas, Parker stated, “I do not perform them because it is not an equal application of the law. Period. I use it as my opportunity to give them a lesson about marriage equality in the state because I feel like I have to tell them why I’m turning them away. So I usually will offer them something along the lines of, ‘I’m sorry. I don’t perform marriage ceremonies because we are in a state that does not have marriage equality & until it does, I am not going to partially apply the law to one group of people that doesn’t apply to another group of people. And it’s kind of oxymoronic for me to perform ceremonies that can’t be performed for me, so I’m not going to do it.” According to NBC News Parker is believed to be the first openly gay African-American elected official in the history of the state.
This week it was also reported that Governor Susana Martinez of New Mexico was refused service by her hairdresser Antonio Darden because of her anti gay marriage position in her state. "Respectful, civil disobedience comes in all forms — from refusing to leave the back of a bus on account of one's skin color, to denying a haircut to the governor of the state of New Mexico for her opposition to same-gender marriage. At the end of the day, Mr. Darden's recent civil protest should invite all of us to rethink & re-evaluate our attitudes and beliefs about same-gender families in New Mexico," said Nicholas Rimmer, a spokesman for Equality New Mexico. Now if we all took a similar stand in all of our vocations just think what an impact this would have on our nation. Updates to Come…:)
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